


Changing Of The Guard

by enchantment



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Halloween, Marvel Universe, Suspense, marvel AU, monster bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26976370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enchantment/pseuds/enchantment
Summary: A young woman taken in the night to a forbidden castle discovers an old friend, a new terror and the reason that you should never dismiss the warnings in story books.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader, Steve Rogers & Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	Changing Of The Guard

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve always wanted to do a Reader story but is it okay to only use pronouns for the Reader portion instead of YN/LN? It just was easier for me to write that way without being specific with the female character. Either way, I love Halloween and I felt like doing a little something for it. Hope you enjoy. :)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to Marvel Comics or the MCU

She had heard the stories of villagers disappearing in the night, never to be seen again or worse yet, to be seen again and have become one of the hideous creatures that terrorized loved ones.The stories told of a madman who had bought the once regal castle, now in ruins, to be used to house experiments on man and beast alike.It was all quite horrifying.

The young woman found herself waking up on a cold stone floor inside a cell with no memory of how she came to be there.A storm was raging outside and the only light that broke the darkness was the lightning from outside and the flickering torchlight from the hallway.She felt her way around the small room until she fell against the stone wall.The stones were damp and as she pressed her hands against them in despair, she wondered if they were weeping for her.After everything she had heard about the castle, she wouldn’t be surprised.

Her crying promptly ceases when she is caught unawares by a quiet murmuring coming down the hall, a tone so soft that it could barely be called a whisper.However, it wasn’t the sound of another being calling out into the darkness that drew her attention so intently, it was the fact that they were calling out **_her_** name.

Was it a pretense to lure her into their clutches or was it merely a trick of her mind?No, it was definitely real, the hands gripping the bars in the window of her cell door as he called her name again convinced her of that.Should she go towards the voice or stay silent in hopes he would go away?As she looked around into the seemingly unending darkness, she wondered if she truly had a choice.

When he called out to her again, this time with much more urgency, she ran towards his voice as fast as she could because this time…this time she knew who it was.

“Steve?Steve Rogers, is that you?”She stared into his panicked expression that was beginning to show signs of relief.“What are you doing here?”

He quickly eyed her up and down.“Thank God, you’re still okay!When he brought you in, I thought I’d be too late to save you.”She heard a jingle of keys.“Step back, I’m going to open the door and take you out of here.”

The rustle of the lock echoes throughout the cell and she was terrified that someone was going to halt their chance at escape.The creaking of the metal door dragging open did little to calm her nerves but it encouraged her to shoot out of the doorway like a frightened rabbit all the same.Once she stood in the long hallway, her gaze was riveted to Steve before throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.“Thank you, thank you, thank you…Are you here with the rest of your troop?”

He pulls back in confusion.“What are you talking about?”

“The last time that we saw each other, you were going to join the army and fight in the war.”She scanned the hallway for a sign of other servicemen.“Isn’t that why you’re here, to save me?”

He gives her a pitying look and grips her shoulders to steady her.“Sweetheart, I’m here to rescue you but I’m here alone.I never made it to the army camp to enlist, I was snatched on the way there and I’ve been trapped here ever since.”

“Oh my God,” she breathes out in horror, “I can’t believe you’ve been here this whole time and I…we…nobody ever knew that you were here!Oh God, Steve, I’m so sorry!”She wraps herself around him again and buries her face in his neck.

“Hey,” he pats her back consolingly and tries to soothe her, “hey, it’s alright, you had no way of knowing.”The back of his hand wipes her stray tears away as she sniffles against him and he lets out a soft chuckle.“I haven’t seen you this upset since that time I threw that broken bit of rubber at you and you thought it was a snake.We were five years old then, do you remember that?”

“That wasn’t funny, Steve!” she snarls at the memory as she turns to face him fully.“I was so scared that I couldn’t go outside for a week!”

There was the fire that he remembered, the spirit that he needed for them to escape this living hell.“Yeah, but as scared as you were, you still went back outside, right?Well, I need you to do that again because as scared as you are, we need to move **now.”**

Her mouth tightens and she tamps down her fear so when she looks back at Steve, she gives a defiant nod.“Okay, I’m ready.Let’s go.”

He’s so proud of her at this moment.Their village was small, far off in the mountains from any nearby towns or cities and the people who lived there were more content with life rather than happy.That had always been their life and the one that he wanted to return her to now.Because as uneventful and quiet as it was, the life that she would have to suffer at the castle was one that he would never want for her.It wasn’t even a life that he would wish on **_him_** , the one who had brought her here.

Steve takes her hand in his own and after one quick squeeze, he tugs her down the hallway and down into the dark.She glances at the small torches that line the long hall, each one six feet apart from each other.“Shouldn’t we take one to give us some light along the way?”

He shakes his head in the negative.“There’s no need, they’re throughout the castle and besides, I’ve been here long enough to know my way around.”She squeezes his hand in sympathy and remains silent as they make their way through the castle.

Heading away from the cell, she notices that her cell is the only one in that area.She briefly wonders if that means that perhaps there are not as many prisoners as she had originally feared, nor as many monsters.That thought fills her with the slightest bit of hope until they turn a corner and she is staring down a corridor filled with the same cell doors as her own.The only difference that she can notice at first is that there is no crying or sniffling that she was prone to because the sounds coming from behind those doors were so much worse.

As if her realization was a challenge to the silence that surrounded them, a young woman’s scream pierced the night, only slightly muffled from behind a large red door.Instantly dropping Steve’s hand, she races to the door and pounds on it when the woman’s screams increase before slowly fading away.Her fist reels back to come down on the door once again when her wrist is suddenly grabbed from behind and she whirls to find Steve glaring at her.“Are you out of your mind?Do you want them to hear you and come find us?” When you gesture towards the door, he shakes his head and drags you away.“That’s the Red Room, you do not want to go in there!”He closes his eyes and shakes his head as if denying a memory.“One of the villagers that disappeared around the same time that I did,” he opens his eyes and his gaze darts to the door, “I saw them drag her in there when she first arrived, you don’t want to know what they’ve done to her, what she’s become.”

Before you can respond, he grips your wrist more tightly and forces you over to another door.“Do you see this door; do you know what’s behind it?Remember the Iron Maiden?Well, behind this door they have an Iron Man.You have no idea what stepping inside of that suit will do to someone.”He brings her to another door.“This one, here?Do you remember the doctor who disappeared a few years ago?He’s behind that door, at least most of the time.Who or what he’s turned into now,” he gives a sad shake of his head, “I don’t even have the words to describe what he’s capable of doing to another living being now, but healing isn’t one of them.”In response to his words, a loud thud crashes against the door and nearly takes the door off of its hinges.He points to the last of the doors where broken bits of makeshift arrows and hammers made out of sticks and pieces of stone lay on the floor outside the cell door’s window.“The things that I’ve seen while I’ve been here, what I have seen people change into,” he swallows harshly as the bile rises in his throat, “what was once recognized as our people can only be seen now as beings that either belong in the stories of mythology or a circus.”All his focus is on her and their survival.“Have you seen enough or do you want the rest of the tour?”

Her throat too constricted to speak, she simply interlaces her fingers with Steve’s and waits for his next instruction.He jerks his head towards a side passage and they rapidly move down the path.Keeping close to the wall, the roughness of the stone scrapes their backs while they move as silently as possible.Without warning, Steve freezes in his tracks, eyes widening in fear.“He’s coming,” he gasps out, his voice laden with terror, “we have to reach the iron gate before he finds us or he’ll never let you leave.”

“Who’s he?” you ask. shaken by his tone.Even in the direst of circumstances, like the night you were both forced to remain hidden in the woods while enemy soldiers marched past you in search of villages to raid, Steve held strong.Regardless of the situation, he always kept his composure and made sure that you were safe.

**_ “He,” _ ** is the man who took you from the village and brought you to the castle,” he sighs deeply, “to your prison.They named him the Winter Soldier because his soul, or what’s left of it, is as cold as ice.Whatever they order him to do, he follows every command without hesitation.”He watches you with a longing for a life that didn’t include this knowledge.“I’ve only ever once known him to act on his own and that was only for one mission.”

“So, he’s the one who brings everyone here,” she reasons.“He’s been the one who has tormented our people all of these years.”She curls her hand into a fist in anger and frustration.“If he finds us, is it possible to stop him?”

“I’ve never been able to,” he admits in defeat before being slammed into the wall by a crazed man dressed in clothes made out of leather and sporting an eye patch.His fists fly in a fury and continue to pummel Steve until he reaches out and yanks down an ancient shield that was hanging on the wall.Bringing it up to protect himself, he blocks the next blow and uses all of his strength to shove his attacker away from him.He wipes the blood off his lip and he stands at his full height with shield in hand.“Is that all you’ve got?” he taunts, “because I could do this all day.”

The stranger is starting to push himself off the ground when the blunt head of a battle axe knocks into the back of his head rendering him unconscious.“Now, you don’t have to,” she replies with anxious eyes and trembling voice.“You said that he’s coming for us, shouldn’t we leave?”

He nods curtly and she reaches for his hand while tossing her weapon onto the floor.They need to move quickly and she doesn’t want anything slowing them down.She hears him mutter repeatedly, “He’s coming, he’s coming, the Soldier is coming…”, under his breath but not quietly enough for her not to pick up.They rush down corridors and passages and avoid all the stairwells so they can’t be boxed in from both sides.The faster they ran; she was sure that someone was following them but she was so terrified that she couldn’t discern if it was footsteps that she was actually hearing or the frantic beating of her own heart.

Steve spares her a swift glance to ensure she is alright and he has to admit he is impressed at her composure, he felt as if he was losing his mind.When he first arrived at the castle, he had tried repeatedly to escape with each attempt leading to nothing but pain and disappointment, the disappointment mainly in himself.He was small of stature and not always in the best of health and he had thought that joining the army could change that.Instead the trip he went out on was what changed his life.He grows colder as the Soldier nears them as he knows that he has no way to fight him off and no way to protect her.The coldness spreads and he feels as though he’s been plunged into icy waters as he recalls each time that he has tried to fight off the Soldier and warn his people away from the area, to let them know that there was no hope in fighting the castle’s power and that their only true hope was to flee.Unfortunately, the Soldier found and stopped him every time until finally Steve gave up all hope and was made a guard of the castle during the day to watch over the others.That was until last night, when he woke long enough to see the Soldier carrying her into the castle and laying her down on the stone floor of her cell.He shook his head to clear it, to shake off the chill that was trailing down his spine.Steve was her only hope of escape now and no matter what, he would risk everything to save her, including his life.He only prayed that he was strong enough to fight the Soldier off this one time and see her to safety.

“We’re here!” she cries excitedly as she points at the large iron gate.“This is it, isn’t it?Our way out?”

As they slow to a halt, Steve drops her hand to cradle his side and breathe harshly.“Yes, but it’s rusted shut.” He grimaces at the stitch in his side and watches as she tries to pull the gate upwards.“I’ve never been able to do it on my own but I’m hoping with our combined strength, we can lift it together.”He slowly moves towards her and takes hold of the bars.“Okay, on three.One, two, three… ** _PULL!”_** A few more tugs and the gate rises only about a foot off of the ground but it’s the best that they can do.Steve’s sweating increases as does his pain.He backs away from the gate and picks up the shield from the ground, trying to hand it to her so that she can defend himself but the pain intensifies and his hand ends up clutching the shield’s strap.“Go,” he grits out as another wave of pain overtakes him, “go home and warn everyone, tell them to leave and never return!”

“Steve?What are you talking about?”She steps towards you and kneels by your side.“I’m with you and I’m never leaving you.We’re pals, remember?That was something we swore to each other when we were kids. To the end of the line, right?”She reaches out and tucks her hand under his chin to raise his head so he’ll meet her gaze.“Right?”

He nods, panting through the pain long enough to answer, “That was the promise but things have changed…I don’t want you to meet your end…not with me.”His gaze is agonizing as he takes in her visage for what he believes will be the last time.“I’m not well, sweetheart, and I’m not strong enough to fight him off.Please, please go.”When she begins to protest, he adds, “You can always come back with help but you know that we can’t do this alone.”

She knows that he’s just saying that to force her hand, to leave him unprotected as she escapes to safety, but she can’t figure out what else to do.“I’m coming back for you,” she vows as she tilts his head and kisses him.“I’ll never leave you now that I know you’re alive.”She hurries to the gate’s opening and lays on her stomach as she prepares to slide under the gate when she hears Steve make a choking noise. _Oh, dear Lord, he’s here, the Soldier’s here and he’s hurting Steve!_

She looks back over her shoulder to see how she can help her friend when she notices that Steve is alone.He’s breathing harder, he’s grunting louder and he’s still making that strangled noise but he’s alone and if she’s not imagining it, he’s growing bigger.The change in his body size continues until he’s slowly pushing himself up to stand at over six feet tall but that’s not the only change that’s taken place.When Steve looks back at you, his eyes are lighter, almost grey and his hair is longer and darker.The shield that he was clutching seems to liquify in his grasp and with the most fluid movement that she has ever seen, it encases his left arm completely and the man standing behind her who was once Steve Rogers doesn’t seem to be Steve at all anymore.

She would have sworn she was imagining the new man that stood there if it wasn’t for the fact that the storm had stopped and the dispersing clouds allowed the moonlight to shine through and reflect off his metal arm. _His metal arm…I need to leave NOW!_ She pushes herself halfway under the gate when a pair hands grab her ankles and drag her back out.Screaming as he draws her closer to him, she thrashes in his grip with no result in the end but exhaustion.

“Shhhh,” he soothes in the same hushed tones that drew her attention back in her cell.“Do not be afraid of me, I will not hurt you unless they order me to.” A choked gasp emits from her as he tightens his embrace so that her back is pulled flush against his chest while he softly strokes her hair.“I do not remember much of my life before the castle, never anything really, but I always remember you.One day, I saw you in the forest and I observed you gathering herbs for your village.I was immediately entranced and watched you for so long that I forgot to take anyone for my Masters.They were extremely unhappy with me that day and I paid dearly for my mistake.”His grip tightens on her as he leans down and rubs her cheek against his own.“My Masters have taken so much from me but they have never been able to take away my loneliness.”His expression is bliss as he closes his eyes and gently lays a kiss on her temple.“That did not occur until I found you.”

She told herself to calm down. _Steve would want me to be…NO…Steve needs me to be strong!I just need to think.There has to be a way to help him._ She licks her dry lips and suggests, “Why don’t you come home with me?You don’t have to stay here; my family will take you in and you would never have to return to this place.”

He turns her in his arms so that she can face him.“I am sorry but we could never be happy outside of the castle.The forces here would always find me and I will always find you.”He cups her jaw and places another kiss, this time on her cheek, “Just as I found you gathering the herbs for your Harvest festival last night.”

His words still her heart as she has a sudden flash of memory.A hand with a foul-smelling handkerchief over her mouth and a silver arm holding her to him as she struggled against his hold until darkness overtook her.The next thing she knew she was waking up inside the castle.“Can’t you try for me?We could set a fire in the castle, ensure that it was large enough to destroy everything and then you could be free,” she slyly poses.

He picks up her hand and places a kiss on her palm as he gazes at her sagely.“I have already told you that there is no escape from my Masters.Others have tried to remove them from power but have always failed.If one faction is conquered then another takes its place.This is where we belong.”His eyes flash with the iciness that Steve said flowed within his soul before regaining their previous tenderness.“This is where you will stay. Always, with me.You have nothing to fear from them as long as you listen to me, I will guard you from all harm, day and night.”

The day…she assumes that’s when Steve would return.The morning seemed so very far away now, as far away as home or hope.Things that Steve told her earlier seem to flitter through her mind as she contemplates her next move.

_ “I’ve only ever once known him to act on his own and that was only for one mission.” _

_ “If he finds us, is it possible to stop him?” _

_ “I’ve never been able to,” _

_ “He’s coming, he’s coming, the Soldier is coming…” _

Her eyes widen in desperation as she finally understands the hidden meanings in his words.Unknowingly or not, Steve was trying to warn her against himself.Feeling the Soldier’s hold relax, she does her best to scramble away from him but he ignores her pitiful attempt and simply lifts her into his arms as he would a bride.“I will take you back to your room so that you can rest and, in the morning, you will meet the others, your new family.”

She turns her face away to hide her fear and disgust and thinks back to earlier in the day when she sat in the center of the village surrounded by the children, keeping them spellbound with books full of fairytales and darker stories of the castle.Why couldn’t she heed her own warnings about the castle?Her mother and grandmother were working tirelessly on the spread that would be offered the next day at the festival and the herbs that were missing were seen as crucial to the meal.Despite her family telling her that it would be of no importance, she did not want to spoil all the hard work that her mother and grandmother had done to make the Harvest dinner into a feast.As she passed the cells with their various sounds and shrieks, she thought how unimportant and foolish it all seemed now.Unfortunately, like all damsels in distress she had heeded the warnings far too late and as her cell door looms ever closer, she saw the end of her story nearing its completion.As the Soldier places her on the bed, kisses her gently on the mouth and whispers a goodnight, she lays there silently in the dark and eagerly awaits the morning so that she can speak with Steve and plot their escape.Even when sleep finally claims her, there is only one thought that is running constant through her mind. _You know, they really should put the warnings in the front of the story books._

** The End **


End file.
